Determining golf club head location in an image using line detection and contour separation

A sensing method of a sensing device for calculating information about a golf shot taken by a user, the sensing method comprising:

• acquiring an image of the user hitting a ball using a golf club;
• detecting a portion corresponding to a straight line through predetermined image processing of the acquired image (a line detection step);
• and
• analyzing a change in a shape of the straight portion detected at the line detection step in order to detect a predetermined feature point and calculating a position of the detected feature point as a position of the golf club, wherein the step of calculating the position of the detected feature point as the position of the golf club comprises:
• specifying contours of a portion of the golf club extending from a shaft to a head through predetermined image processing of the acquired image;
• and
• investigating the contours specified at the step of specifying the contours in order to detect a portion of the golf club at which the head begins from the shaft as a feature point and calculating a position of the detected feature point as a position of the golf club.

A sensing device for calculating information about a golf shot taken by a user, the sensing device comprising:

• a camera device for acquiring an image of the user hitting a ball using a golf club;
• and
• a sensing processor for finding a hosel portion of the golf club at which a shaft and a head are connected to each other through predetermined image processing of the acquired image, setting a position of the found hosel portion as a feature point, and calculating a position of the feature point as a position of the golf club, wherein the sensing processor is configured to process to:
• extracting left and right contours based on the shaft detected by a straight line;
• analyzing a change in a distance between the extracted left and right contours;
• and
• detecting a position at which the change in the distance between the left and right contours reaches a predetermined level or higher as the feature point.